1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card adapter for electrically connecting electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device to contacts in a slot provided in a personal computer or the like for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A card adapter has been conventionally used, for example, for electrically connecting contacts of a CF (Compact Flash) card which is a card-shaped electronic device smaller than a PC card to contacts in a slot provided in a personal computer for receiving a PC card.
FIG. 17 shows one example of this type of conventional card adapter disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2000-259782.
The card adapter 80 shown in FIG. 17 has a chassis 81 made of resin or the like, a circuit board assembly 82 mounted on the chassis 81, and a pair of conducting plates 83, 83 provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis 81, respectively.
The chassis 81 has a CF card receiving space 84 for receiving the CF card therein. The circuit board assembly 82 is provided with a first connector 85 to be electrically connected to the contacts (contact pins) provided in the slot for a PC card, a second connector 86 to be electrically connected to the contacts of the CF card, an eject button (eject lever) 87 and an eject arm 88 for ejecting the CF card received in the CF card receiving space 84.
The eject button 87 is disposed in the chassis 81 such that it can be moved along the longitudinal direction of the adapter. The eject arm 88 is pivotably mounted on the circuit board assembly 82 by means of a rotation axis 89. Further, the tip portion of the eject button 87 is linked with one end of the eject arm 88 through a connection 90.
When ejecting the CF card received in the CF card receiving space 84, eject operation is carried out by pushing the eject button 87 into the chassis 81. When the eject button 87 is pushed, the eject arm 88 is rotated about the rotation axis 89, and the other end portion thereof (which is an end portion opposite to the end portion linked with the eject button 87) is moved toward the inside of the CF card receiving space 84, and as a result, the CF card is disconnected from the card adapter 80 by the eject arm 88.
Further, the CF card is provided with grounding contact portions (not shown in the drawing) on the side surfaces thereof for discharging static electricity charged in the CF card, and the chassis 81 is also provided with an electrical path for discharging the static electricity from the grounding contact portion of the CF card to a grounding means of the slot for a PC card.
The electrical path is constructed from an elastic contacting part 91 which elastically contacts with the grounding contact portion of the CF card, a contact part 92 which electrically connects with the grounding means of the slot for a PC card, and the conducting plate 83 which electrically connects the elastic contacting part 91 and the contact part 92.
In the conventional card adapter 80, the contact part 92 is provided on the outer surface of the chassis 81 which will be frequently held by a user. Therefore, if the user touches the contact part 92 when holding the card adapter 80, static electricity charged in the user is discharged to the contacts provided in the slot for a PC card for receiving the card adapter and to the grounding contact portion of the CF card through the contact part 92, the conducting plate 83, and the elastic contacting part 91, thus resulting in the case that an electronic circuit provided in the personal computer or the CF card is broken.
In view of the problems described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a card adapter which can reliably isolate a slot provided in a personal computer and a card-shaped electronic device such as a CF card from a user.
In order to achieve the object mentioned above, the present invention is directed to a card adapter for electrically connecting a plurality of electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device to a plurality of contacts provided in a slot for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard, comprising:
a first connector to be electrically connected to the contacts provided in the slot;
a second connector which is electrically connected to said first connector, said second connector being adapted to be connected to the electrical connecting portions of the card-shaped electronic device;
a chassis in which said first and second connectors are disposed, said chassis having upper and lower sides; and
a pair of conducting plates provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis,
wherein said chassis has a pair of arms extending from portions of the chassis which are located at opposite sides of said second connector, respectively, with a space therebetween so as to define a receiving space of the card-shaped electronic device, said arms being provided with a pair of insulating grip portions for isolating said conducting plates from a user holding the card adapter.
As described above, in the card adapter according to the present invention, the arms which are portions frequently held by a user are provided with the pair of insulating grip portions so that conductive parts such as the conducting plates provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis and the like are reliably isolated from a user. Therefore, according to the present invention, the card adapter can prevent static electricity charged in the user from being discharged from the user to the contacts provided in the slot for receiving the card adapter and to a grounding contact portion of a card-shaped electronic device to be connected to the card adapter through the conductive parts of the card adapter.
In the present invention described above, it is preferred that each of the arms has a tip side, and said insulating grip portions are provided on the tip sides of the arms in the extension direction.
Further, it is also preferred that said chassis is formed of an insulating material.
In this case, it is also preferred that said insulating grip portions are formed by partially exposing the insulating material of the arms.
Further, it is also preferred that each of said tip sides is an area of the arm which extends from a tip of the arm over at least 1 cm in the extending direction of the arm.
In the present invention, it is preferred that at least one of the conducting plates is provided with a plurality of connecting protrusions electrically connected to a grounding means provided in the slot.
In this case, it is also preferred that, when the card adapter is inserted into the slot, said connecting protrusions are adapted to make an electrical connection with a grounding means in the slot after said first connector has been electrically connected to the contacts in the slot.
In the present invention, it is preferred that the card-shaped electronic device is one selected from the group consisting of a semiconductor memory card, an interface card, and a hard disk.
In this case, it is also preferred that the memory card has opposite side surfaces which are in contact with the arms of the chassis when the memory card is connected to the adapter, and the memory card is provided with a grounding contact portion on at least one of said opposite side surfaces, and the arms are provided with connecting means for electrically connecting said grounding contact portion to at least one of said conducting plates when the memory card is connected to said second connector.
The above and further objects, structures and effects of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the appended drawings.